


dave isn't dead

by interstellarcadence



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: M/M, Unbury Your Gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarcadence/pseuds/interstellarcadence
Summary: a revocation of the "bury your gays" troupe





	dave isn't dead

the bullet un-sinks itself from dave’s chest. klaus’s tears crawl back up into his eyeliner, and the word “medic” pulls itself back into his mouth. dave is not dying. dave is not dead. 

 

dave and klaus are both part of the first batch of soldiers selected by nixon to go home. it’s a show of good faith, of course, to pluck a few half-dead kids out from some jungle and place them back into some sort of atomic bomb mannequin version of home. dave asks where home is for klaus, and klaus doesn’t know how to answer, so dave asks “how’s alabama sound?” and he’s got that hint of a southern drawl that klaus notices, but most people don’t, and klaus smiles and klaus nods, and they steal a kiss while no one’s looking.

 

on the ride home, which is long, dave rattles off an abridged family history. his mother, mary anne, had him at seventeen and raised him on her own. he has a little brother named thomas that’s really his cousin, but he lives in their house, so he’s basically just a brother.

 

“you have siblings too, right?” dave asks. klaus doesn’t remember telling him that, but klaus doesn’t remember a lot of things he’s told people.

 

“yeah,” klaus says. 

 

“tell me about them,” dave says.

 

“there’s seven of us all together,” klaus says. “five boys, two girls.”

 

“your family catholic or something?” dave asks, laughing. klaus can’t help but smile.

 

“no, no, we’re all adopted,” klaus says.

 

“oh, so that explains it,” dave teases, and klaus tenses a little.

 

“explains what exactly?” klaus asks.

 

“this whole inferiority complex you’ve got!” dave laughs, and klaus laughs too, and it’s a real laugh and that’s probably a good sign.

 

“oh you and your dark humor you,” klaus teases back, and maybe he thinks about kissing him, but they’re still on a plane out of saigon, so he doesn’t.

 

alabama ends up being a lot cozier than klaus expected. it’s hot, of course, but his wardrobe changes to dave’s oversized shirts, so it’s okay. for some reason, klaus had pictured dave’s mom, mary anne, as some perpetual 17 year old, clutching a baby to her chest in the rain like the start of some sad cartoon. but she’s exiting her thirties now, a strong formidable woman, buff enough to remind him of luther, and he decides she must be a good mom.

 

he helps her bake breakfast sometimes, because she lets him stay with dave in his childhood bedroom for free, and he decides he needs to pay her back somehow. he quickly learns his way around the kitchen, the southern way of love. he learns exactly how to prepare one of those iconic american apple pies, and he presents it to dave on their three month anniversary. it’s worth noting that he did cut out dough in the shape of little tiny dicks and put it around the crust as his form of decoration. dave absolutely loved it, and they both laughed until their sides ached.

 

being sober wasn’t easy for klaus, but it was easier than in the jungle. heroin wasn’t as easy to come by, and mary anne kept alcohol out of the house. dave had been the one to help him through the withdrawal, and when klaus kept staring at random corners of the room and swallowing his own screams, dave just kept holding him. klaus hadn’t told him about his powers at first, but eventually he did. dave didn’t believe him at first. it was only when klaus was able to have a conversation with dave’s dead childhood friend that he believed him.

 

and it all turned out okay. klaus got a tiny little building where he set up as a psychic and medium, which was not far away from where dave worked as a mechanic. and they ate lunch together and sometimes mary anne joined them and everything was okay. and dave isn’t dead.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry the ending is weird, this was sitting as a wip forever and i figured i should just post it.


End file.
